AN: Lady Janelly has brought something important to my attention. Sometimes, when you spend long enough thinking about a fic before you actually start writing it up, you get the picture of the circumstances fixed so securely in your head that you forget to tell your readers about them. For example, you wouldn't bother telling everyone that the sun is yellow when admiring the beauty of its presence in the morning, or remember to tell everyone that grass is green as your character splays out in its luscious leaves.

Yes, his fingers are gone, completely, as in... not there anymore. No healing that ladies and gents. Not even for an elf. Somehow I managed to completely avoid clarifying that anywhere in the last ten chapters. Damn those vague comments that seemed so brilliant at the time...

Warning: Suicidal thoughts and a whole chapter of... very little indeed. How do I manage it...?

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The new-found King of Gondor wandered the pathways of Imladris, lost in thought. He would not have noticed his wife's approach if the pendant around his neck had not rung out in recognition of its mistress. The Evenstar had never looked more serene in her childhood home, for in Gondor the people needed a Queen to rival their King, and she had provided one. She worked with the people where she was able, watching the newly made orphans in the orphanage she had set up in the lower wings of the palace, tending the plants and flowers of the city until everything began to bloom again under the tender elven care. The vibrancy in her when she was amongst men was a curious opposite to her serenity amongst elves. She was near transformed when at his side, and so it was soothing for Aragorn to see her as she had always been long before he had been born.

"You fear for him, and needlessly. He has great strength in him."

"You have not seen... there is more than was shown to us." Arwen looked over his face carefully.

"Then I will leave you to your thought. Have peace, Elessar. He will win through this, Elrohir and Elladan would have it no other way."

"This at least I know." He smiled as she drifted away from him, away down another path. Her simple presence had soothed his worries, and his thoughts when he returned to them were more ordered; presenting to him one answer. He had to talk to Legolas.

Decision made, he turned to make his way back to the house, only to see a figure clothed all in white making his way away across the gardens. Curious and yet wary - Saruman had tricked them once already - Aragorn moved to confront him.

Mithrandir - though the name no longer seemed appropriate - turned to confront him before he could be identified. Caught by surprise Aragorn jumped, clutching at the hilt of his sword only to find it gone. There was no need to wear such a thing of war in the halls of Imladris. Gandalf laughed heartily at his panic, offering a smug smile in return to his disapproving glare.

"When did you arrive, oh great wizard?" Aragorn asked, not without a hint of sarcasm.

"Arrive? Dear Aragorn, I have never left. I have slept long and peacefully and now, after a little fresh air, I do believe a large breakfast would be in order. Would you join me?"

"Breakfast? But it is near time for dinner."

"It matters not. Dinner will do just fine."

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While the two sat to an early dinner in the grand halls of Lord Elrond's realm, Gandalf proceeded to tell Aragorn all he knew - having none of Elrond's qualms about Legolas' privacy and knowing that Aragorn would need to know all he could if he were to help Legolas. He told him as much as he could of the nature of the darkness he had taken from the young elf, and the darkness that he had been forced to leave behind - the product of the twisting of his own soul.

When he left that dinner Aragorn found himself truly ready to confront the young prince, and headed to his chambers immediately.

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He found Legolas and the twins sat upon the balcony of Legolas' room - three slender bodies only just fitting into the small alcove. Elrohir had his arm around Elladan and his head on his shoulder, while Elladan held Legolas on the other side. Aragorn cleared his throat gently to call attention to his entrance. Legolas didn't turn around, but the twins both looked back at him with sad eyes and Elrohir called him in with a motion of his head.

Stepping lightly back into the room, Elrohir pulled Elladan with him - leaving Legolas on the balcony alone, watching them go with sad eyes. Pushing Elladan though the door ahead of him, Elrohir paused beside Aragorn with a glance back at the figure on the 'sill who now had his head on his knees.

"Elladan needs some attention, he has been strong for us all these last few weeks." He glanced up at Legolas once more. "He fears what you might say to him. How you might see him now. He fears that this means he is weak." He met Aragorn's eyes. "We have said all we might. We know no more words that might reassure him. It is up to you now."

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Legolas sat on the short balcony, hoping that Aragorn would simply leave, or that Elrohir would convince him to go. He could not bring himself to look back into the room, to see if he was still standing there - but he could feel his gaze on the back of his neck. He wished he would just come over and get this over with. He already knew the words he would use. He had seen the whole conversation in his mind. He would start by apologising for his abandonment, for his lack of rescue. Then he would tell him how little that did to soothe the hurt that his attack had brought. He would tell him how he could have turned the war. How many people's deaths he would have been responsible for. He would look on him as if he were an orc and tell him to take himself from this honourable house. Tell him of the disgrace he was bringing. And the pain to those he loved more than any other. And he would be right. Right in every word, every accusation. Aragorn would be right and then he would have to leave, for above all else he never wanted to bring hurt to those he loved. He glanced down, towards the ground. The room he was in was two floors up, and the ground looked terribly inviting. He knew that if he jumped he could reach the branches opposite and scramble to the ground. He also knew, a terrible knowledge, that if he jumped from the balcony with no aim for the branches he would likely plummet to his death. It wouldn't hurt for long, and so much pain would be over. It seemed so easy.

Aragorn sat beside him, taking up as much room as both the twins with his broad shoulders. You could rest such cares on those shoulders.

Legolas wedged himself in the opposite corner, restricting their contact as much as possible. The only way into the room was through Aragorn, and so he was trapped unless he wished to take the more dangerous route down.

"You shy away from me as if I hold some hurt or pain for you."

"Do you not? I know well what you might say to me."

"I fear you think me some other person. One filled with hate and spite. I have no such pain to give you." Legolas looked away, gazing out at that branch again. He could not follow, the man, he would be forced to take the longer way round. If he could only... A cold hand seized at his gut. He could not jump, for he could no longer catch himself. His hands... he glanced down and then looked away, his heart suddenly racing. It seemed a small thing, to think of dropping from the balcony, but to make a jump and miss... to fall... He could not.

He leant back, meeting Aragorn's curious eyes.

"Sometimes I wonder if I hate them and it is simply habit that has me love them so." The words flowed from his mouth uninvited as his mind pondered other things. "My mind became twisted in those dark places and I swore my undying hatred over and over. Bit I cannot hate them, for I do love them so and I truly could not live without them."

"Do you hate me? It was I who abandoned you to that fate." Legolas met his eyes.

"You are King Elessar. Even then your cares were for a greater cause."

"You did not answer my question."

"Of course I hated you. You were my friend, my brother. You did not even seem to notice as I was dragged from the field of battle. You assumed me dead, assumed me so weak as to fail at their hands. But I hate you no longer. I have delivered a far more heinous wrong upon you."

"I do not blame you for what happened. And you did not succeed. Your guilt for such an action is unwarranted."

"I remember it, Aragorn. I remember every moment. I did not even look at the faces of those who I struck down in effort to reach you." He had drawn even further into the corner, grasping his elbows and shivering as he started out into the woods. "I can remember wanting your death. Wanting to be seen to be strong in his eyes."

"Come inside, I grow chill." He lied, standing and moving inside. Legolas followed slowly, feeling the ache in his bones that the stresses of the day was bringing.

He sat on the shallow window ledge, knowing that if he tried to stand and make his way over to the chair or the bed he would stumble, and not wanting to show such weakness when he was feeling so exposed.

"Must we talk further, I tire." He half-lied.

"Shake yourself out of this pitying rut." Aragorn replied harshly. "Can you not see what harm you are bringing? Elladan seems to carry permanent tears in his eyes. Elrohir is pale and gaunt. You must go to them and YOU must be strong."

"I have too much fear."

"You are not one to succumb to fear, Legolas. You cannot let it take you now."

"I am no longer the elf you knew."

"Tell me, Legolas. Tell me about the elf I once knew. Tell me how you differ."

"He was strong where I am weak. He brought laughter where I only bring tears. He is dead and gone while I remain, to bring pain to those I love."

"You will grow strong again; this weakness is only the lingering effects of your illness. As soon as you see this, and seek an end, the tears will stop - for all will see that you are healing."

"I have no place to take once I am healed. There is no future for me that I might see." Aragorn moved faster than Legolas would have thought possible for a man, seizing both his wrists and revealing his hands between the two of them. Aragorn simply looked for a moment, praying his emotions didn't show on his face. He had fully intended to look upon the wounds with a blank face and harshly deny his statement. It seemed to be the only way he was reaching him. The first thing his eyes noticed – for the mind is very good at failing to process images that it finds too upsetting – was the scarring across his knuckles. It looked a little as though his hand had been dragged through shards of glass. His fingers... he forced himself to focus upon them – it seemed they were simply gone, the stumps left behind only just rising above the first knuckles, the tips pink and puckered with scar tissue. Scars on an elf that should have long healed.

"The scars have not faded, why is that?"

"Perhaps it is because they are closer to my soul. Father always said an archer's soul started at his fingertips." His voice was soft as he met Aragorn's eyes, and he pondered that it was the first joke he had heard him tell. How was it that Legolas was now reassuring him? A soft smile flickered across his face.

"Do they hurt?" The question was out before he had thought about it. Such a childish request. 'Tell me you're ok.'

"Only in my soul."

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AN2: regarding the 'ringing out' of the Evenstar's necklace. Watch/listen to the films very carefully and you will hear the same kind of glassy sound when either the necklace or the Evenstar herself appear, only really noticeable in the scenes where the two appear together, ie: the scene upon the bridge, and the reunion in Return of the King. It's pretty loud when the necklace is reunited with Aragorn at Helm's Deep too.

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Jedi-Bant : Thanks for the review, the other characters will be turning up before the end, never fear.

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kel : thanks for the review

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Blaise : I'm writing, I'm writing!

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Lady Janelly : See above. Yes, I'm a moron. Apologies...

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Sylvie : Thanks so much, your review means a lot. Hope I can keep up to your standards.